Seems the backlight timeout setting is only valid for the backlight during activities. Does not appear to work outside of an activity.
Thanks for this great info! I thought I had a buggy watch. I've set the backlight on all the different time settings and it always turned off after 5-8 seconds, did not know the setting only worked during an activity! :mad:
Thanks for this great info! I thought I had a buggy watch. I've set the backlight on all the different time settings and it always turned off after 5-8 seconds, did not know the setting only worked during an activity! :mad:
I was wondering the same thing while I was in bed and the backlight kept turning off after I changed the setting. One would think that this would be an easy software fix for their next update.
At least I hope its being considered.
Very confusing indeed. Hopefully it's on the planning to be fixed.
In fact, this behaviour is very logical and not a bug or a missing feature.
First of all very few people will want a long (or forever) time their light on on their watch during normal use.
Second, suppose you set it to infinite, that would cause the battery to drain if you accidentaly hit the button say while you are asleep, or on a bright and sunshiny day. It would keep on burning till the battery ends.
I think it is very normal and logical for this behaviour to be as it is; it is only intended for during workouts in the dark for people such as I, who are too lazy and too tired to constantly press the button every time they wanna see the data...
In fact, this behaviour is very logical and not a bug or a missing feature.
First of all very few people will want a long (or forever) time their light on on their watch during normal use.
Second, suppose you set it to infinite, that would cause the battery to drain if you accidentaly hit the button say while you are asleep, or on a bright and sunshiny day. It would keep on burning till the battery ends.
I think it is very normal and logical for this behaviour to be as it is; it is only intended for during workouts in the dark for people such as I, who are too lazy and too tired to constantly press the button every time they wanna see the data...
The fact it's so confusing for other people kinda suggests it's not 'logical' after all right?
Also the fact the backlight option is in 'system settings' would suggest it being system wide, not just for activities. I was confused in the beginning as well, and would like it to be a global setting. Especially combined with the fact that it times out before you can read out a correct HR from the hr-widget.
And if very few people want a long/forever backlight time they could set it like that in the settings. The majority who wants it to be 8 seconds or 15 seconds could set it like that as well... Now THAT would be logical.
This isn't a "bug" but how backlight timeout has always been on Forerunners.
It's probably now more "confusing" as the widgets allow you to do a lot of stuff outside a timed activity.
It's largely about battery conservation. If you were to "accidentally" leave the backlight on all night you may well find your watch has a flat battery in the AM...
But the default time-out is only a couple of seconds. So how could the backlight keep on burning accidentally all night for regular users? And if you wanted more flexibility (like me and by looking on this forum multiple others) and set a a longer time-out, you just lock the screen when needed. That's why there's a locking function.
It's just very confusing for users because Garmin made it a system setting but it only works like an activity setting.
I agree it's obvious and logical that backlight has a fixed timeout when in "watch mode"
What I miss, as I already wrote in a previous thread, is a quick access to the "stays on" backlight timeout option.
During runs in the dark I prefer the light always on but if I forget to deactivate the "stays on" and I run in the sunlight that will drain my battery.
